Interim VP Bob Alig

Some people still hold the misconception that Advanced Placement® is a program for the élite, so I am constantly explaining that AP® is for the prepared, not the élite. I must emphasize, however, that it is our partners at the district level — the school administrators and the teachers — who do the hard work of preparing kids for AP and other pathways to college success. I’d like to share with you a couple of examples of this partnership in action.

Few schools in New York state do more than Albany High School to prepare students for opportunities to challenge themselves academically, offering 17 AP courses to 313 students in 2008. All students are eligible to enroll in AP classes, and fees for the exams are waived for students who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

The second example is the Delaware Valley School District, located in a rural area of northeastern Pennsylvania. They have seen an educational transformation during the past few years, largely due to their AP program, which has grown from one AP course with five students to a current offering of 22 AP courses with an enrollment of 550 students. More students are able to take AP courses — which require increased rigor, more reading, writing, researching, thinking and problem solving — because teachers have used the “Vertical Team approach” to reach down into the middle schools to challenge and equip those students with skills that facilitate their success in AP course work in high school. This approach has raised the bar in all academic areas and produces outstanding results by the time students reach their senior year.

Finally, I want to invite you to join the brightest minds in education Feb. 10-12 at the 2009 Middle States Regional Forum, where we will address the opportunities, challenges and concerns that are unique to our region. Gathering at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore, school counselors, admissions and financial aid officers, teachers, and administrators will have an unparalleled opportunity to work together to improve the transition process for students moving from secondary to postsecondary institutions, while enjoying the chance to network, share, discuss and ultimately effect change. More than 50 sessions will be offered, including
the following:

• “Thriving Without Deep Pockets: Achieving Enrollment Success on an Uneven
  Playing Field”
  
  
• “Conversations on Writing: Professors, Adjuncts, Teachers”
  
  
• “Undocumented Students: Is College Possible?”
  
  
• “Counseling that Works: Advancing Academic Achievement for All Students at Inspiration Award High Schools”
  
  
• “The Student Loan Program: Politics, Policies and the Market”
  
  
• “Thinking Outside the Box: New Predictors for College Admission”
  
  
• “Successful Fundraising for Community Colleges”

For a complete list of sessions and more event information, please visit the Middle States Regional Forum Web site.

Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, associate vice president for enrollment management and director of scholarships and student aid at Syracuse University

Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, associate vice president for enrollment management and director of scholarships and student aid at Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y., was elected to a two-year term as chair of the College Board’s Board of Trustees at the Board’s Annual Meeting on Nov. 7. Copeland-Morgan most recently served as vice chair of the 31-member governing board, and she has been active in the College Board since 2003.

“Youlonda is known widely as a champion of students and a leader in the development of higher education and is my very, very good friend,” said outgoing chair Lester P. Monts at the Annual Meeting. “It gives me great pleasure to pass the gavel on to her.”

Copeland-Morgan has held numerous leadership positions in student financial aid and admissions and has been honored for her commitment to access, equity and minority participation in higher education. Prior to her position at Syracuse University, Copeland-Morgan served as vice president of admission and financial aid at Harvey Mudd College. She served as a faculty member in the Continuing Education College Counseling Certificate Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at the College Board’s Enrollment Management Institute.

As chair, Copeland-Morgan will lead the Trustees in their responsibilities to assist in legal and fiduciary decisions; approve the mission, strategic goals and objectives of the College Board; establish policies; and advise those responsible for the management of
the organization.

At the meeting, Copeland-Morgan spoke of three important goals: mobilize the membership to action, expand and be innovative in research, and focus the nation’s efforts on eliminating barriers to college access for students from low-income backgrounds.

“To our membership, I say that despite tremendous success in providing greatly needed services and programs to schools and colleges and universities, there is still a great deal of work to be done,” she said.

“Through the strength of its membership, the College Board has the capability, the talent, the passion, the respect and the credibility to push our school districts, colleges and universities toward policies and practices that will help our nation deliver on the promise.”

Copeland-Morgan reflected on her upbringing by parents who were determined that she take advantage of educational opportunities that they did not have. “We are shattering the myths about who can be successful in this country,” she said. “We all have a story to tell, and it’s important that we tell it.”

Catharine Bond Hill, president of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., was elected to serve as a Trustee for a four-year term from 2008 to 2012.

Hill has been the president of Vassar College since 2006. An economist whose current work focuses on higher education affordability and access, she was previously provost and a member of the faculty at Williams College. In her earlier career, she worked for the World Bank and the Fiscal Analysis Division of the U.S. Congressional Budget Office. From 1994 to 1996, she was a macroeconomic adviser in the Ministry of Finance in the Republic of Zambia. Hill’s publications include the study co-authored with Gordon C. Winston, “Access to the Most Selective Private Colleges by High-Ability, Low-Income Students: Are They Out There?” (“College Access: Opportunity or Privilege?”, College Board, 2006), and “Affordability: Family Incomes and Net Prices at Highly Selective Private Colleges and Universities,” co-authored with Gordon C. Winston and Stephanie Boyd (Journal of Human Resources, 2005).

She has been selected for a number of scholarly awards from organizations including the American Council of Learned Societies, the Brookings Institution, the National Science Foundation and the Social Science Research Council.

At this year’s Forum, held in Houston in early November, 266 new members were elected to the College Board, bringing the total number of members to 5,653. Twenty-four of these newly elected member institutions are from the Middle States Region.

Click here to see the list of new members.

Click here to see events and workshops in the Middle States Region.